In January, Alphabet, the company you probably think is ‘Google’, revealed a new cybersecurity company, Chronicle, from its X moonshot factory. In a short press statement, Google’s parent company explained that Chronicle will allow enterprises to eliminate any blind spots in their security systems.
The service will basically work in two different ways: it will offer companies a platform to manage their security intelligence and analytics, and offer an online virus and malware scanner, VirusTotal, which was acquired by Google in 2012.
Moonshot Factory
Alphabet’s announcement of a cybersecurity system was an unexpected turn for its moonshot factory, but ever since the short press statement, the company has announced no further developments on the project or what Chronicle could be working on.
The X moonshot factory is one of Google’s biggest and craziest initiatives which works as an incubator to pitch new ideas and solutions which are then turned into stand-alone companies under Alphabet’s corporate umbrella. The factory’s think tanks look at problems ranging from tech and cybersecurity to environment and economy to find solutions that impact millions and even billions of people around the world.
Now Alphabet is hoping that Chronicle could become the next big thing in tech like its other initiative, Loon, which is a network of beaming balloons that make internet more accessible in remote areas.
The internet balloon project which started off as a ridiculous idea has now turned into a standalone company under the name Loon LLC. The tech giant is also dabbling with self-driving cars under its auto subsidiary, Waymo. Now, cybersecurity is the next big opportunity for Alphabet.
Growing Cybersecurity Industry
A research company, Gartner, forecasted that spending on cybersecurity could hit $96 billion by end of 2018 and the trend will only go up from there. In an interview with CNBC, the CEO of Chronicle, Stephen Gillett, gave some much-needed details about the cybersecurity platform and what this mysterious ‘Other Bet’ is all about.
The CEO said that Chronicle is planning to take its cybersecurity platform public, but they’re yet to decide a launch date for the grand reveal. Gillett had previously been part of the moonshot factory’s think tank and joined Chronicle directly from his position as a tech executive in the factory.
Although the cybersecurity platform has largely been kept secret from the public, many of the company’s executives and some selective companies have tried the service and given rave reviews.
Gillett said that Chronicle will not be in direct competition with other renowned cybersecurity firms. His company is going for such an enormous scale that none of the other competitors could even think of attempting what it is about to do.
Chronicle is currently in its alpha testing phase and its products are being used from big Fortune 50 companies to small-scale firms and hospitals. Last week, the company shifted operations to its new home in Mountain View, California, next to its parent firm Alphabet’s headquarters.
‘Planet-scale’
Chronicle’s reach is expected to be ‘planet-scale’, according to the ambitious CEO. He explains that the platform will use Google’s complex infrastructure including its machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to create a security behemoth the tech world has never seen before.
Gillett has previously headed the security giant Symantec, but Chronicle is expected to surpass its capabilities as well by augmenting the current security offerings on the market, instead of replacing them. The main goal of the new service is to help organizations monitor and make sense of the information that flows through the enterprise environment.
According to Gillett, the Other Bets under Alphabet have created a product that will create 10 times the impact of what already exists in the marketplace. Cybersecurity is a very important issue and a threat to internet security as a whole is a threat to humanity, the CEO explained.
The company’s biggest advantage is Google’s subsidiary, VirusTotal, which was acquired in 2012 and moved under Chronicle this year. The web-based app monitors the flow of information on your computer device and alerts users about incoming potential threats. VirusTotal is completely free and widely popular among large companies and security professionals.
